TENNIS ATP INDIAN WELLS – Nick Kyrgios beat Denis Kudla 6-4 7-5 in his debut at the BNP Paribas at Indian Wells in his first match after a six-week lay-off due to a back injury which forced him to miss the Davis Cup first match against Czech Republic. The 19-year-old Australian rising star, who reached the quarter final at this year’s Australian Open, converted on two of his three break point chances and won 86 percent of his first service points. The young Aussie hit 11 aces and saved the only break point chance he faced in the second game of the second set. Diego Sampaolo
Kyrgios set up a second round match against Grigor Dimitrov in what promises to be an exciting second-round head-to-head match between two of the most talented players on the circuit.
“I am just glad to be back. It was killing me not to play especially after the Australian Open. I was loving it. I had a good time back home. I was ready to get back out there and start competing again. I thought I played really well for my first match back. He is not an easy opponent. He is playing some good tennis, so I am really proud of myself”, said Kyrgios.
Sergiy Stakhovsky fought back from a set down to edge Sam Querrey 2-6 6-4 6-2. Diego Schwartzmann battled past Jerzy Janowicz with 6-4 3-6 7-6.
Italian Simone Bolelli confirmed his good period of form by taking a three-set win over Brazilian Thomas Bellucci with 6-2 6-7 6-4. Bolelli will face Milos Raonic for the third time this year. The Italian upset the young Canadian last month in Marseille.
Bolelli got a double break in the sixth and in the eighth games of the first set. The second set went on serve until the tie-break. Bellucci earned the only break point in the ninth game which Bolelli saved. Bellucci got three mini-breaks in the tie-break to clinch the second set. Bolelli broke serve early in the decider and managed to hold his serve saving the only break point in the eighth game.
Aleksander Dolgopolov, last year’s semifinalist at Indian Wells, beat Frank Dancevic 6-2 7-5. Donald Young eased past Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3 6-4. In another US-Spanish clash Steve Johnson cruised through to the second round with a 6-2 6-3 win over Marcel Granollers. Jack Sock won his first match at Indian Wells after coming back from a set down in a hard-fought match against Yen Hsun Lu with 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 7-5. The Taipei player opened up a 5-1 lead but Sock drew level to 5-5. Lu won the tie-break with 7-4. Sock won the second set easily and broke serve early in the third set. Lu broke back but Sock got the decisive break in the 11th game.
Kazakh Andrei Golubev saved six set points in the first set before Dustin Brown prevailed in the tie-break. Golubev won the second set forcing the match to the third set before saving a match point at 5-6. Golubev won the third-set tie-break to win a roller-coaster match with 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-3).
One of the highlights of the Saturday programme is the match-up between Indian Well defending champion Novak Djokovic and Marcos Baghdatis who took advantage of Jiri Vesely’s withdrawal in the second set. Djokovic leads 7-0 over Baghdatis in their previous head-to-head matches but the player from Cyprus provided a stiff challenge to Nole in their last match in Miami in 2012 before losing 6-4 6-4.
